Tag Archives: Apple iPad

Love gaming and love your iPad, but don't love gaming on your iPad? A new concept in iPad accessories, launched just this week on Kickstarter, is looking to bring your two great loves together, with a carrying case designed specifically for gaming and gamers.

Engadget reported yesterday on the latest idea from Audojo, a case that supplies what most gamers find lacking when playing on their tablet – physical controls.

The case, which is compatible with iPad 2 or higher, closes around the ends of your iPad, giving you two analog joysticks, shoulder buttons, and stereo speakers.Meanwhile, the rest of your tablet is left free, so you can use your camera or any of your tablet's buttons without hassle.

There are, of course, other gaming controllers for iPad out there. But how Audojo's differs, says Engadget, is that rather than connecting via Bluetooth, it uses a low-latency microphone-based interface.

hile the case does have a mini-USB connector for charging, it doesn't actually act as a charger for your iPad, which would be cool but would also make the gadget a lot more expensive, so Audojo's decided to keep it simple, for a cheaper, more accessible design.

This isn't a perfect accessory – yet. Engadget took issue with its prototype, which it said "looks a little clunky since it adds quite a bit of bulk to the iPad's figure," though they also noted that, when you're actually using it, "it's light and well balanced and feels comfortable in hand."

They also found that the pods for the shoulder buttons, electronics and batteries, housed at the back of the case, are "are currently too wide but Audojo plans to remedy this before production thanks to an improved circuit board layout."

Audojo's gaming case is far from hitting any store shelves. But if its Kickstarter campaign works out as planned, we should eventually see a slimmer, more refined version of this already pretty cool prototype. And though we're not counting our chickens before they hatch, we have a hunch it could be one of the best iPad accessories yet made for the gaming crowd.

With the iPad Mini expected to launch soon, the question is not will people want it, but how much will they pay

It won't be a few weeks until Apple actually holds its iPad Mini event. But the October 23 date can't come quick enough for some who are already speculating about all the details Apple is expected to reveal later this month.

One of the big revelations we're all waiting for regarding the new mini tablet is how much it will cost. And today rumors that sound at least possible (if not probable) began to circulate about the iPad Mini's price.

One of the leaks, first reported by German blog Schimanke, reportedly comes from the inventory of Media Market, a European electronics retailer, and sets the iPad Mini's starting price at around €249 (about $322 U.S.) That includes the Value-Added Tax that applies in Europe or on European goods sold in North America.

German blog Schimanke leaked the reported price of the new iPad Mini: starting at €249

After having looked into the newest iPad's bill of materials (BOM) cost – which essentially summarizes the total cost of each of the tablet's major components – TechCrunch found that Schimanke's estimate is, in fact, within the realm of possibility.

Factoring in "Apple’s famed commitment to high profit margins," TechCrunch writes that "the iPad Mini reportedly starts at $316.05 for BOM and manufacturing cost per unit, and is sold for $499, giving a rough margin of $182.95."

As for the the top of the line devices, "the margin jumps considerably, with the $829 64GB Wi-Fi+LTE iPad apparently carrying a manufacturing cost of $408.70, parts included, for a difference of $420.30."

We won't really know for sure until Apple officially announces the new device's cost, as it's expected to do at the October 23 event, but it seems likely that it'll be in the neighborhood that the rumors so far have described.

The same day Apple released another stellar earnings report, it announced that the long-anticipated Mountain Lion, otherwise known as OS X 10.8, would go on sale first thing Wednesday morning.

Mountain Lion is available in the Mac app store only at a price of $19.99. Those who bought a new Mac on or after June 11 are entitled to a free upgrade.

In July 2011, Apple released the last version of the Mac OS - OS X 10.7, known as Lion. According to Apple, Lion is used by 40% of Mac owners, and 50% still use the previous version - Snow Leopard. Mountain Lion is a significant upgrade to Lion. It is rumored to add more than 200 new features, including integration with the iPhone and iPad operating system - iOS. Reminders, Messages, Notes and other notifications that will automatically sync between devices.

The Mountain Lion update is only for current Lion or Snow Leopard owners. If your Mac operates on a previous OS version, you’ll have to upgrade to Snow Leopard before buying Mountain Lion. For those with a pre-2009 Mac, your computer probably won’t have enough processor to run Mountain Lion.

Great news for Apple iPad users that have been disappointed with their browsing experience... they will soon have a Safari alternative from Mozilla.

Mozilla just revealed a new version of its Firefox browser designed to give Apple iPad users an alternative to Safari. Mozilla calls its mini-browser “Junior.” As a Mozilla foundation representative describes Junior, “It makes browsing more fun, more ergonomic and re-thinks browser user experience from the ground up.”

Junior only provides two buttons on screen. These are placed where the iPad user’s thumbs go. The “back” button performs the standard back function. Pressing the “plus” button opens a new screen that lets users input a URL.

Mozilla is looking to provide a simplified browsing experience for the tablet environment. They’ve designed Junior to use the entire screen without cluttering it up with tabs and search bars. Some iPad users may miss the on-screen tabs that are a staple of web browsers, but Mozilla has had to eliminate them to accommodate the tablet’s smaller screen size.

It looks like Junior really is a browser that’s designed for tablets, not just a stripped down version of its desktop or mobile browser. No word yet on when Mozilla will release Junior to iPad users.

Expectations for tablet sales keep increasing. The market research firm IDC just released a new study that shows a higher demand for tablets than they expected by the end of 2012 and beyond. IDC expects tablet shipments to reach 107.4 million this year, up from 106.1 million units.

By year end, the Apple iPad is expected to account for 62.5% of total global shipments, up from 58.2% in 2011. Android tablet market share looks like it will decline from 38.7% in 2011 to 36.5% in 2012.

In the longer term, IDC upped its 2013 tablet forecast from 137.4 million to 142.8 million units. The research firm expects 2016 worldwide shipments to reach 222.1 million units.

Tom Mainelli, research director for Mobile Connected Devices at IDC explained the increases this way: “Demand for media tablets remains robust, and we see an increasing interest in the category from the commercial side. We expect pending new products from major players, increasingly affordable mainstream devices, and a huge marketing blitz from Microsoft around Windows 8 to drive increased consumer interest in the category through the end of the year.”

School districts received a number of grants to purchase tablets to increase interactive learning and pique student interest and raise productivity. Faced with the decision of choosing a tablet, educational institutions are investigating and evaluating the benefits and shortcomings of various mobile tablets and tablet accessories available on the market.

Some of the many benefits are: physical size, applications, streamlined user-friendly features. However, the vast majority of these tablets don't come equipped with CD/ DVD ROMs or USB ports that are traditional means of backup for the typical user. It appears that Acer had these limitations in mind when it quietly developed and introduced the Acer A500. This is a consumer centric honeycomb product that is not only affordable but also includes full-size USB ports and is cost effective. Discover the latest innovative protective tablet solutions and premium electronic tablet accessories.

The new Acer A500 model boasts a 10.1 inch screen with a full gigabyte of RAM and an option of 16 or 32 gigabyte internal storage. The 2 megapixel front facing camera and an 3260mAh battery holding an 8 hour charge; coupled with a USB port and microSD card option for 32GB external storage for the pragmatic user. Other tablet showcases more impressive technical specs, but it all comes down to the customer needs.

This is indeed a pragmatic option (not necessarily aesthetically appealing one at 12mm thick), the specs of this Acer tablet make it a contender as an entry-level purchase. For those customers drawn to a tablet’s « look » and flashier features, they may want to consider the Blackberry PlayBook or Apple iPad or the Samsung Galaxy offerings.

For the Android fans out there, this tablet is slated to launch with Honeycomb but will be upgraded to Android 4.0 soon after its release. The roadmap as of now is unclear, but would make a lovely and practical addition to any consumer’s Android family of products.

Accessories are designed to protect, personalize and enhance your mobile devices.

As mobile devices become increasingly integrated into our lives as an extension of the personal computer; the same threats posed to our PCs creep into our day to day mobile phone and tablet usage.

According to a research paper released by the North Carolina State University, certain Android vendors including Motorola, Samsung, and HTC) are not following Android’s best practices for pre-installed apps. An undesired side effect of this negligence is that those applications access to send SMS messages, wipe a phone’s data, or even read your address books. In effect, they are able to do all of the aforementioned tasks without your knowing. This is stark contrast to Apple iPhone and iPad tablet propietary applications / OS practices which may be on your list of considerations.

As a Google prodigy, these Android vulnerabilities are not quite so present on Google phones such as the Nexus One and Nexus S. There are unfortunately some symptoms of an underlying weakness in the Android platform. This shortcomingpoints to an inherent flaw in the OS for its permissions-based exploits. Luckily today’s marketplace offers a variety of smart phone OS and device options. Discover the innovative protective solutions and premium electronic accessories from the industry's most leading brands.

Google and Motorola (now a subsidiary of the internet giant) have both acknowledged these issues. Interesting enough, HTC and Samsung have presented considerate difficulties for researchers in terms of reporting these issues. An interesting delineation between manufacturers, it may be in a consumer’s best interest to review unlocked phones for security purposes before locking into a contract with an unsecure smart phone.

The silver lining is that it is the likelihood of these soft spots being exploited is low. This is due to the necessity of side-loading an app on the device to interface with the permissions of the pre-installed applications’ weaknesses. But buyer bewares – the potential for serious privacy infringement is there. Be an informed and engaged consumer and take precautions when downloading applications from the Android Marketplace. Ensure that you are downloading apps from trustworthy sellers and take a few moments to read over reviews, protection, smart phone and tablet accessories and additional smart phone options at online retailers such as puremobile.com.

It seems to be the beef between Adobe and Apple is not that too as Adobe recently has released an updated Express app of Photoshop for the iPad and iPhone from Apple.

The app, already available on the handsets of Android, has changed its name to Photoshop Express from Photoshop Mobile. This is the first to be much compatible with the iPad from Apple. And it contains a large screen which should help to make editing photo easier.

There also exists a user interface which is updated for the Photoshop Express by Adobe for the iPad and iPhone from apple, and visually it is quite a lot pleasing.

Do not expect that it will be having all the features of the Photoshop of desktop fully, as this iPhone app from apple enables only the very basics such as rotation, cropping and another few effects. Still, it has been a very solid way in case of editing photos of yours on your go.

I also think it was summed up by a farmer best in the review he made on iTunes: If you expect features like Photoshop, then this app must be forgotten. What so ever, if you search for basic transforming and editing of pictures on the iPhone, this very app is truly cool. And above all it is absolutely free!

The Express app of Photoshop makes its presence just being the relationship between Apple and Adobe and it continues being tenuous, at its best. The crux of that very beef is such that Apple has no desire for having Flash on iPad or Unlocked iPhone4 from apple just because Steve Jobs has got a pretty strong belief that in case of issues of performance it is actually not at all right for the entire platform.

Adobe hence has countered such that the lacking of Flash could strongly hurt its business.

After coming out onto the iPhone and iPad as the app, the PriceGrabber has finally decided to make the app available to the Android users. PriceGrabber has tied up with Google to bring with itself all the facilities that one can get on their web page. This is available as an app which can be accessed on the Android Market and can be downloaded directly onto your phone. This one can be really useful for the customers.

With this app, there are several nice features which you can get. You can actually scan the bar codes from the products and compare rates of the product from different retailers whose numbers are in the thousands. The layout of this app is pretty user friendly and searches are really fast. It makes the task of searching for the best deals really easy. With the PriceGrabber, you can compare the prices of the goods from several retailers which will help you get the cheapest prices. Furthermore you can also calculate the products bottom line price and check how much the product will cost inclusive of all the taxes like shipping. This can be incorporated by way of GPS or by just entering the zip code of your area where you want to buy the product from your Unlocked Cellphone. There is also another add on like the Gift Shaker where you can check on the products according to the price and category that you want. The PriceGrabber gives the facility of pulling down product reviews which are written by experts and suggestions for buys.

Finally once you have selected the products that you want, you may add them to a dedicated list of favorites which you can keep. Therefore the PriceGrabber is a kind of definitive must have for buyers.